What do You think about Good Harbor (2003)?
Kathleen and Joyce are both living on Cape Ann. When they meet, they're both a little lonely and going through some tough times in their lives. Kathleen is facing a breast cancer diagnosis and Joyce has a terrible teenager at home and a mostly-absent husband. They immediately click and become confidantes. I think it says just about everything you need to know when I write that I really never did get the two names straight in my head. They're not even that similar but I had to have context before I could think, "Right. Kathleen=cancer, Joyce=family trouble." The book just felt a little too generic to me. They could be any two women anywhere at just about anytime. And that may be exactly what the author was going for. Anyone who's had this kind of deep, soul-baring friendship may immediately recognize it and love the book. I'm too private for that kind of thing. I'm quiet so I don't have many friends but the ones I do have are truly close friends. I would do anything for them and they would do anything for me. Nobody hears everything though. So this kind of tell-all friendship just leaves me in the dark.Some women will enjoy this book more than others. I didn't really connect with it but if you think you will, give it a try.
—JG (The Introverted Reader)
Anita Diamant’s Good Harbor is a far cry from her best seller A Red Tent. However I must acknowledge that to compare one against the other would be comparing oranges to apples. Having read The Red Tent and The Last Days of Dogtown I have been an avowed Diamant fan so was excited to read Good Harbor. This one is written in a different vein altogether – of two women, complete strangers until a chance meeting during prayer services at the Temple. Kathleen, late fifties, beautiful and elegant, has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Joyce, early forties, is facing a crisis in her marriage and plenty of “attitude” from her twelve year old daughter. The author has woven the two stories together with great humour, warmth and love, so the reader can’t help but marvel at this budding friendship between two women – although each is guarding a secret, at the end they help each other to heal, mentally and spiritually. It was an easy read, sometimes too hurried and at others somewhat repetitive. I wonder if the ending were different whether it would have had more of an appeal, at least to me.
—Purabi
Probably more like 3.5 stars. I really really liked it, and I was a sobbing mess at parts, but I'm not sure I can say I loved it. I think I might have, were I not expecting a book of the quality and depth of the Red Tent, but this fell short. I saw someone else's review compare it to a Lifetime movie, and that kind of rings true. That may not be entirely fair, as the two main characters were wonderful and I loved their friendship, but I just felt a little bit cheated, like something was lacking. Definitely worth a read, but go in knowing what you're in for.
—Allison Bishop
